RICHMOND, Va. - The Lafayette baseball team dropped a 3-2 decision to Virginia Commonwealth on Friday night at The Diamond. VCU survived a ninth-inning threat by the Leopards to secure the victory behind Seth Greene's 8.2 innings of work.

Trailing 3-1 heading into the ninth, consecutive singles by Jackson Kramer and Alex Nickles started the inning before Eric Anderson's sacrifice put the tying run in scoring position with one out. Brett Thompson delivered his second RBI of the night with a groundout as Lafayette pulled within one with two outs and a man on third. The Rams turned to relief pitcher Thomas Gill with Andrew Landolfi at the plate, and he induced a groundout to third base to nail down the save and Greene's win.

Lafayette (5-5) starting pitcher Connor Ortolf held the Rams' potent offense in check by holding them to three runs over six innings of work. Ortolf surrendered a pair of runs in the fourth inning and one in the sixth to a VCU attack that combined to score 69 runs over the past seven games. Cody Acker went 3-for-5 with an RBI and Logan Farrar had two hits and one RBI to lead VCU (15-3) offensively.

Greene kept the Lafayette offense off the scoreboard until the seventh inning when Nickles led off the inning with a double to left. A sacrifice bunt by Nick Murray moved Nickles to third base before he scored on Thompson's RBI groundout to shortstop. Greene allowed eight hits and two runs, while striking out seven without giving up a walk in the win.

Relief pitcher Cory Spera tossed a pair of scoreless innings to keep Lafayette within striking distance. Spera allowed two hits and struck out two in support of Ortolf.

Lafayette remains in Richmond for a doubleheder Saturday against Rutgers at 11 a.m. and Buffalo at 2:45 p.m. Right-hander Mitch Leeds is scheduled to take the ball against the Scarlet Knights and righty David Bednar will start against the Bulls.

Lafayette Athletics, as a partner in the mission of the College, provides an incredibly effective learning experience for student-athletes through competitive NCAA Division I athletics. Lafayette sponsors 23 varsity sports with more than 600 student-athletes.